The writers who vote for the Hall of Fame take a lot of public backlash — and worse. If you accept the responsibility to do something that so many care about, my advice in this age of social media is that criticism comes with the honor.

Stiffen your spine and turn off your Twitter mentions or X mentions or whatever it is now. Do the work and vote how you see properly. If you want to vote, you will be criticized if you make your ballot public (which I think every voter should).

But what the writers should stop taking abuse about is who falls off the ballot. This is not our rule. This is the Hall of Fame’s rule. It is one we have tried, as the voting body, to counteract at times, to no avail.

Still, we should keep trying, and if the public would like to exert pressure in this area, do so toward the institution making the rules.